I spoke confidently, but to tell the truth, I had in my own mind certain misgivings as to the result of our experiment. In the first place, I knew that we lacked a very important ingredient--animal fat, which is necessary to make candles burn for any length of time with brilliancy. Besides this, I rather doubted how far my memory would recall the various operations necessary in the manufacture. Of all this, however, I said nothing; and the boys, under my direction, were soon at work. We first picked off the berries and threw them into a large shallow iron vessel placed on the fire. The green, sweet-scented wax was rapidly melted, rising to the surface of the juice yielded by the berries. This we skimmed off and placed in a separate pot by the fire, ready for use; repeating the operation several times, until we had collected sufficient liquid wax for our purpose. I then took the wicks my wife had prepared, and dipped them one after the other into the wax, handing them as I did so to Fritz, who hung them up on a bush to dry. The coating they thus obtained was not very thick; but by repeating the operation several times, they at length assumed very fair proportions, and became real sturdy candles. Our wax being at an end, we hung these in a cool, shady place to harden; and that same night we sat up like civilized beings three whole hours after sunset, and Falconhurst was for the first time brilliantly illuminated. We were all delighted with the success of our experiment. "You are indeed clever," said my wife; "I only wish that with your ingenuity you would show me how to make butter. Day after day I have the annoyance of seeing a large supply of good cream go bad under my very eyes, simply because I have no use to which to put it. Invent a plan, please do." "I think that perhaps I can help you," I replied, after a little consideration; "not that I can claim the honor of the invention of my plan; that is due to the Hottentots. I will see what I can do. Jack, bring me one of our gourd bottles." I took the gourd, one of those I had previously prepared, with a small hole at one end and well hollowed out and cleaned; this I partially filled with cream and then corked up the hole tightly. "Here, boys," said I, "you can continue the operation, while I turn carpenter and make a cart to take the place of our sledge." I gave them their directions, and then set about my own work. They fixed four posts in the ground, and to them fastened a square piece of sailcloth by four cords attached to the corners. In this cradle they placed the gourd of cream, and each taking a side rolled it backward and forward continuously for half an hour. "Now," I cried, looking up from my work, "open the gourd and take the contents to your mother with my compliments." They did so; and my good wife's eyes were delighted with the sight of a large lump of capital fresh butter.